The Mystery of the Headless Horse - Arden William (электронная книга .TXT) 📗

“That’s what it sounded like,” Pete agreed. “They look like cowboys. Maybe they work for Mr. Norris!”

Bob added, “They sure want to find those keys, and that means the keys are dangerous to them — or to someone! Let’s look hard!”

“We already did, Records,” Pete pointed out. “Those guys couldn’t find them, either.”

“They didn’t look very hard, and now we know what we’re looking for,” Bob said. “I saw a burned rake over there — go get it! We’ll rake up the debris around the peg!”

Pete found the rake in a corner. Its handle had been burned half away, but the metal part was still usable. He began to rake through the ashes and debris. Every time the rake struck something metallic, he and Bob bent over excitedly to examine the object. Their search was a little easier than before because the day had brightened, letting more light into the roofless barn. The clouds were breaking up and patches of blue showed overhead.

Finally Bob cried, “Pete!” and pointed down. Something glinted in the light.

Pete raked it up. The two boys almost bumped heads as they both bent over to pick it up.

“Two keys on a chain with a silver dollar!” Bob cried.

“Any marks on them? Identification?” Pete asked quickly.

Bob looked. “No, nothing. But they’re car keys, all right, and they’ve got to be what those men were looking for.”

“Unless they’re Pico’s,” Pete said. “Or maybe they belong to one of those friends of his.”

“Hey! You two kids!”

Bob and Pete whirled. The fat man named Tulsa stared at them from the burned doorway. For a moment he didn’t seem to know what to do.

“Out the back!” Pete whispered to Bob.

They ran out the rear of the ruined building, and got behind some live-oaks that grew in back of the barn. Then darting from tree to tree, they moved to a position from which they could look back into the hacienda yard.

“You, there!”

The big, black-haired man named Cap stood near the ruined hacienda, gesturing at the boys. Suddenly, the rat-like man came out of the corral and called him.

“Cap! Tulsa says those kids found somethin’ in the barn!”

The two boys looked wildly around. They were blocked off from their bikes at the back of the hacienda yard, and there was no place nearby to hide!

“The ridge!” Pete hissed.

They fled towards the high ridge where the headless horse statue loomed against the sky!

13

Danger on the Ranch

When Jupiter left the Historical Society, he rode to the library and found Diego. The slender young Alvaro boy was looking gloomy.

“There’s a lot in the old newspapers about shoot-outs in the canyons around that time,” he reported, “but nothing that helps us figure out what happened to Don Sebastian.”

“Never mind now,” Jupiter said eagerly. “I think I’ve found something! Bob and Pete should be finished at the jail by now — they’ll probably be at Headquarters. Come on!”

The boys rode quickly through the rain to the salvage yard. To avoid being seen by Aunt Mathilda or Uncle Titus and perhaps grabbed for some chore, Jupiter led Diego in the back way. He stopped his bike along the rear fence about fifty feet from the corner. The entire fence around the salvage yard had been decorated by Rocky Beach artists, and Jupe had halted in front of a dramatic scene of the San Francisco fire of 1906. A little dog sat in the painting near a red spout of flame.

“We named the dog Rover,” Jupiter informed Diego, “so this secret entrance is called Red Gate Rover!”

One of the little dog’s eyes was a knot in a board. Jupiter carefully pulled out the knot and reached in to release a hidden catch. Three boards in the fence swung up, and Diego and Jupiter slipped into the salvage yard.

Once inside, they parked their bikes and crawled through hidden passages in the junk piles until they reached a panel that opened directly into Headquarters. Bob and Pete weren’t there.

“They’re probably still talking to Pico,” Jupiter said. “We’ll wait.”

“All right,” Diego said, “but what did you discover?”

Jupiter took out a piece of paper. His eyes gleamed with excitement.

“A second lieutenant who came here — one of Fremont’s men — kept a journal. I found this entry for 15th September, 1846,” Jupiter explained, and began to read. “ ‘My senses are in a whirl! I fear the strain of our invasion has affected my mind. Tonight I was ordered out to the hacienda of Don Sebastian Alvaro to search for hidden contraband. Just at dusk, I saw what can only have been the figment of a deluded mind. On a ridge across what the local people call Santa Inez Creek I clearly observed Don Sebastian Alvaro himself leading his horse and nourishing his great sword! Before I could attempt to cross the creek total darkness engulfed me, and not wanting to risk an encounter alone at night, I returned to our camp. There I was informed that Don Sebastian Alvaro had been shot and killed trying to escape from us that very morning! What, then, did I see across the creek as I left the Alvaro hacienda? A spectre? An illusion? Had I heard some casual reference to Don Sebastian’s death and not remembered until the Alvaro hacienda dredged it from the depths of my tired mind? I cannot say’.”

“But Don Sebastian wasn’t shot!” Diego cried eagerly. “So that lieutenant really did see him! And, Jupiter, he had the sword!”

“Yes,” Jupiter agreed triumphantly, “I believe we have now proved conclusively that Don Sebastian was alive on the night of 15th September, and that he did have the Cortes Sword with him after he escaped. There was nothing wrong with that lieutenant’s mind or eyes. The moment Bob and Pete arrive, we’ll go out and investigate the spot the lieutenant described!”

But after half an hour Bob and Pete still had not appeared at Headquarters. Diego became alarmed.

“Could something have happened to them, or to Pico?” the slim boy asked uneasily.

“That is always possible,” Jupiter acknowledged grimly, “but I think it is more probable that they learned something from Pico and went to investigate on their own.”

“But where would they go?”

“Considering that their task was to question Pico about where he had last seen his hat, I suspect that they have gone to your hacienda. Let’s go find them.”

Jupiter and Diego slipped back out through Red Gate Rover and rode their bicycles as fast as they could out to the burned hacienda. The rain had stopped and the sky slowly brightened. Santa Inez Creek was running full and high when the boys crossed it on the stone bridge of the county road. Passing the rank of ridges between the creek and the arroyo, they glanced up at the headless Cortes statue high on the last ridge.

“Jupiter! The statue! It’s… it’s moving!” Diego cried.

They slammed on the brakes of their bikes and stared up at the statue.

“No, it’s not moving!” Jupiter said. “There’s someone up there near it!”

“Someone hiding behind the statue!” Diego cried.

“There’s two of them. They’re running now!”

“Coming this way down the ridge!”

“It’s Bob and Pete!”

“Come on!”

They shoved their bikes into the brush beside the road and ran forward. Bob and Pete were slipping and sliding down the end of the ridge towards the road. Out of breath and panting, the four boys met where the ridge ended in a deep ditch beside the pavement.

“We found some evidence, First!” Pete panted.“And three guys found us!” Bob gasped.

“What three guys, fellows?” Diego asked breathlessly.

“We don’t know, but they’re after us right now!”

“Back to the bridge,” Jupiter puffed. “We’ll hide under it!”

“They’re sure to look there, Jupe!” Bob objected.

“There’s a big drain-pipe back down the road!” Diego cried. “It runs into this ditch, and it’s all overgrown! Come on!”